Making Puppets: Some simple starters

1. Popstick PuppetsThese have to be the simplest of all puppets to make. Get the children busy drawing their puppet characters. Cut them out and glue or tape them to a popstick.2. Paper Plate PuppetGrab a paper or plastic plate and decorate with craft foam or felt and permanent markers. Tape to a cardboard roll to make a handle. Voila!3. Paper Bag PuppetsDraw your puppet face on a brown paper bag and then stuff it with crumpled newspaper. Tape to a cardboard roll and you are ready to entertain the toughest of critics.Pop back tomorrow when I will feature some further simple puppet ideas, this time using fabric.

Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

Puppets are a wonderful thing. Miss M will have long conversations with a puppet, teddy or Mr Potato Head who is talking to her. (Daddy or Mummy provides the voices) Love these ideas! You always have great ideas Christie.

I have just finished making some very simple puppets for my little girl. She is very much into story telling. I have dowloaded some Princess pictures from google images, cut them out, laminated them and attached them to paddle pop sticks - easy and tomorrow we will be telling a few princess stories.

I enjoyed your ideas for making puppets and I really like the idea of having your children help out and create their own puppets. Fun, fun, fun!

Those are great ideas! I saw the instructions for the puppet theater but didn't want to invest in a bunch of expensive puppets to populate it. Nice, inexpensive, and very creative solutions. Sounds like a fun rainy day project, to make a puppet theater and some puppets to live in it!